


Black Mamba

by jibsco



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:00:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23866417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jibsco/pseuds/jibsco
Summary: Missing scene for 1x02 "The Annihilator"“It’s fine-- fine,” he huffed, looking down at the two small beads of blood as they thickened on his skin. “It’s just a small one. Probably not e-”And then he bonelessly fell backwards, collapsing as his knees suddenly gave way.
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright, Malcolm Bright & Dani Powell
Comments: 3
Kudos: 94





	Black Mamba

“Bright!” Detective Dani Powell called, sweeping the room with her gun as she surveyed the scene: clustered animal tanks, a missing suspect, some fallen clutter, and then Malcolm, pushing himself to a stand and pointing wildly to the side. 

“That way!” He responded breathlessly, but she stopped when she saw it -- the snake. The same type of wiry, black little creature that had slithered out of Aristos’s throat. She could remember the conversation clearly -- how he told them that _they’re very poisonous; the black mouth, coffin-shaped head… these are Black Mambas._

“Uh… Bright?” She stepped backwards slightly, gaping at the sight of the snake coiling in the air, dangling from his wrist. He didn’t seem to notice it until he processed her reaction, in which he then jolted in realization and gripped the creature by its body to rip it off. 

“Ah!” He breathed, letting it drop. Shaking his wrist out in front of him, he released a few chuffs of laughter and gripped the bite mark. “It’s fine-- fine,” he huffed, looking down at the two small beads of blood as they thickened on his skin. “It’s just a small one. Probably not e-” 

And then he bonelessly fell backwards, collapsing as his knees suddenly gave way. _Shit!_ Dani rushed forwards when his back thudded against the concrete and the wooden planks below him. His transition from slightly disheveled to flushed and shaking and gasping was terrifyingly instant, causing her body to be drowned with panic as she tried to assess and focus, _focus._ Check his pulse, request medical help, fast, fast, _fast._

“This is Detective Powell with the 1-6,” she called out in a spitfire once her phone was free from her pocket, “I got a 10-13, I need an ambulance!” 

His heart was racing; she didn’t even need to count it to know that his pulse was way over 100 beats per minute. Malcolm was grunting, his muscles tense and body writhing as he panicked. She wasn’t sure what he was looking at, or if he was even seeing anything, but she pressed both hands to his neck in an effort to hold him still, to monitor his condition, to get his attention. 

“Hey, Bright? Bright! I need you to look at me, okay?” Dani prodded at him, seeking out his crystalline blue eyes to get them to focus on her. It worked for a second, but then his attention swiveled off to the side and he blinked rapidly, trying to gain some semblance of control. His breathing was too erratic, matching the same gallop that his heart was making through the arteries against her fingers. “You’re gonna be fine, you’re gonna be fine.” 

But it was obvious that his focus was becoming glazed, his neck tightening with the effort to draw in a breath. Her own pulse must’ve been matching his at this point, because she hovered over him and repeated a desperate mantra of, “Breathe. Breathe. Bright.” His eyes rolled back and his spine arched. The venom was ripping through him, preparing to shut him down. “No, no, no, no,” she said in a rushed attempt to pull him back from whatever poison-induced torture that was dragging him away from reality -- the venom that forced his breaths to be strangled, that made him growl out in pain, frustration, fear. “Bright. Help is coming.” 

Dani’s words weren’t reaching him. Malcolm’s restlessness quickly became even more uncoordinated; his muscles tensed and then deflated, he wheezed and wilted, his arms slipped down to the ground. She realized, then, how torturous this must’ve been -- how devastating it must’ve been for Aristos to be forced to watch his entire family suffer through this while tied up and unable to look away. She barely knew Malcolm, yet she was completely agonized by just witnessing this. 

The straying movements of his eyes gradually lessened. Paralysis was setting in, making his arms and legs boneless, making his desperately rolling head still and pliable, making his breaths weaker and weaker. His restless twitches became less violent and his lips soundlessly tried to form the shapes of incomprehensible words until even that range of movement slipped away. Dani momentarily lifted her head, checking for the back-up that wasn’t there yet, looking for the help that Malcolm so hopelessly needed. 

“Bright, stay with me, come on,” she begged. His skin was flushed and covered in a fine, cold sheen of sweat, his half-lidded gaze was blanketed in a fog of unseeing. The rate of his breaths were too few and far in between, too strangled and pitiful to be useful. Respiratory paralysis, which, even worse, she knew that he was most likely still conscious, unable to focus his eyes and forced to live through the excruciating torture of suffocation. “Come on, come on… Bright, you’re going to be fine.” 

Dani wasn’t sure if she was making fake promises, but she didn’t dwell on it when she heard footsteps coming her way. 

“Powell!” Gil called, seeming to materialize beside her. He took in the image of Malcolm on the ground, of his splayed limbs and the way his eyes blinked languidly until they simply slipped closed. “Bright? Hey! Malcolm!” He lifted a worry-filled gaze to her. “What happened?” 

“There was a snake,” she responded breathlessly. Gil positioned himself across from her and grasped Malcolm’s hand. He noticed the two little puncture marks by his wrist and gripped his shoulder, murmuring concerned reassurances. “Hauser?” She asked curtly. 

“He’s gone.” It became clear to her, then, that Malcolm meant a lot to Gil -- it was obvious in the way his forehead creased with genuine concern, how his dark eyes became clouded with unrefined fear. “Hey, buddy, hey,” he said, failing to get a meaningful response. He tugged at Malcolm’s tie to loosen it. “Dammit -- I told you to wait outside!”

“He’s not breathing-” 

“Oh, shit.” JT’s voice came from somewhere behind her, but she wasn’t paying attention; instead, she was tipping back Malcolm’s lolling head and pressing her lips to his, forcing in the precious oxygen that he needed. She felt his chest rise and fall beneath her hand. 

“Lead in the paramedics!” Gil commanded once the shrill sirens of the ambulance became clearer, and JT’s footsteps retreated. One breath, two breaths, three breaths. Malcolm’s pulse was thready and fast under her fingers. 

Dani wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that -- her pressing her lips against Malcolm's lax ones, trying to preserve his life while he deteriorated further and further and Gil murmured incomprehensible reassurances and pleas. But then, finally, _finally,_ she heard the hurried footsteps of the paramedics, the way they slowed down to take in the scene and ensure that the snake was nowhere in proximity, the way they instantly started with a barrage of questions that Gil was answering. 

She stepped back, breathless, as they took control: they took his pulse, inserted an IV, started breathing for him through an ambu-bag. Malcolm looked incredibly vulnerable -- pale and small and fragile as they tipped his head back, obscured his face with the valve mask, slid him onto a gurney. It was all insanely quick and way, way too real as they carted him off. 

“You okay?” JT asked. 

“Yeah, yeah.” She felt herself nodding. “I’m fine.” 

“Send out a BOLO on Hauser,” Gil interjected, gesturing to the tanks and cages, to the clear evidence of black market animal trade. “This is enough for a warrant for his arrest.” 

Dani nodded, re-focusing back on the job, on the work, on the victims. Their top suspect just slipped them and took down Bright in the process -- and none of them could let that go unpunished.


End file.
